


In the Shadows of Penglai

by Chrysanthos



Category: Pet Shop of Horrors, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crack Crossover, Crack Treated Seriously, Implied Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 04:59:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18004250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrysanthos/pseuds/Chrysanthos
Summary: Deep in the shopping district of Mustafar City, Midoriya "Deku" Izuku finds himself within a bizarrely tantalizing pet shop.





	In the Shadows of Penglai

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after a fitful daydream

"Hello, young man," Calls a soft voice from the counter, and as the incense smoke parts, child Deku's eyes widen as he sees the prettiest shop keeper ever, "Welcome to Count D's pet shop. Though I, myself, am not the count, many people still refer to me as such. Tell me, are you here for a pet?"

The shop is oddly devoid of animals, as Deku discovers, but there are a great deal of odd people. There are men in royal finery, there are ladies who swim in pearl-laden lagoons. There's a man with ram's horns casually enjoying a bloody steak. There's a small girl in old-fashioned Chinese regalia who seems to switch emotions rapidly as she gazes upon him.

Somehow, he feels at ease in the shop, despite the shop just being full of weird people. There are little children, younger than he, who dance and sing and hop around. There's a red-haired boy who, despite being older than him and somewhat more aloof, offers him something crunchy to eat (it's hard to determine what it is, but it's definitely some sort of meat (The Count later tells Deku it's a grasshopper, and Deku is caught between disgust and intrigue - he didn't think grasshoppers tasted good)).

There are doors, however, the Count does not take him into. There are many doors, in fact, that the Count does not show him, and although the curiosity burns at Deku, he trusts that there is a reason for this. Behind one such door, he hears splashes and faint snarls, and he naturally shies away from it.

Come to think of it, there are a lot of doors, and Deku does ask about how wildly expansive the pet shop is. To this, all the Count does is offer a wry smile, then gleefully forge on, introducing Deku to a beautiful young man with tanned skin and a beautiful feathery cloak of the most vibrant green he's ever seen. Deku marvels at the cloak, the man preens at the attention, and the question of the odd geometries of the store is buried, seemingly forgotten.

All too soon, a ringing is heard throughout the store, and the Count ushers Deku to the front, where a young boy, almost Deku's age, perhaps a little older, has entered. Deku thinks he hasn't been getting enough sleep. The boy gives Deku nary a glance before asking about cats.

Deku almost tells the boy that he should try a different pet shop - there aren't any cats here, you see, but there is a huge amount of fancy people - but the Count simply smiles and takes the other boy's hand. The count gazes into the boy's palm and asks about his home life, if he thinks he's ready to care for another living being, if he thinks the cat would be happy living with him. Again and again, the boy answers in calm, precise answers that belie his apparent excitement. The Count smiles as he vanishes into the back of the shop.

Deku is alone with the boy in the eclectically-Chinese foyer, though there is some sort of Western influence, if the little knick-knacks strewn about are any indication. The two don't speak to each other, Deku keeping his silence out of nerves, but they do stare, and truly, that gives Deku more indication of a person. If he didn't know better, he would say his Quirk was simply to understand anything at first glance. He remembers the grasshopper he ate.

The Count returns, this time accompanied by a white-haired teenage boy, with patches of gold and brown hair interspersed throughout his mop of white. There are little cat ears on top of his head, and from the red collar around his neck hangs a little golden bell in the shape of a koi. The other boy's eyes widen, and Deku is about to ask why when he runs up and picks up the teenager- hold on.

Deku's eyes sting, and he rubs his eyes. The teenager is gone, replaced by the most wonderfully adorable calico cat. Count D explains to the boy holding the cat the apparent superstitions behind the cat's breed, and how the cat would be especially lucky, since male calico cats were especially rare. The boy is nearly ecstatic, though his eyes never change shape or lose their tired look.

Rather than payment, the Count seems to accept contractual obligations. The boy apparently already has guardian permission to purchase the cat, but he promises to come back and pay for the new cat, who he has been told is named "Kyoya". The Count simply smiles at that, and offers a variety of cat toys and luxury-brand cat food, all to be covered under the contract. The other boy gladly accepts, and is soon off on his merry way with his new cat.

Deku wants to ask where the teenager went, but Count D simply smiles and asks if Deku's decided on a pet yet, which halts his train of thought. Did he want a pet...? After all, why did he come to the pet shop in the first place...

Count D, as if sensing his apprehension, holds up a claw-like finger (and the Count's fingernails are especially long and sharp, Deku notices for the first time), and strolls to the counter and pulls down, from the wall, a pot of ordinary soil. Deku stares in confusion as Count D explains - the seed within the pot, he explains, is an extremely rare crossbreed of almost fifty different plants, and only sprouts under very specific conditions - what those conditions are, the Count is unsure of. However, he cannot just up and leave the shop to discover those conditions, so he asks of Deku one favor.

Deku is in his room, later, gazing upon the plant. Deku only knows the basics of gardening, but he knows how to keep a potted plant from dying, so he figures he might as well try and do as the Count asks.

It's only a month before Deku returns to the pet shop in tears - the plant still hasn't sprouted, despite all of his efforts. Count D is there, enjoying what appears to be a particularly delicious cake baked by a prior customer, but he halts his ravenous enjoyment to assure Deku that so long as he was making an effort, he was doing incredibly well - this sort of plant simply took more time than others to grow, much like a particularly stubborn tree. Deku is calmed, though perhaps it is the incense again.

Deku begins to keep a journal of the plant's progress, and the years go by, interspersed with infrequent visits to the pet shop. Count D seems to be ever-present, and his friends also appear to warm up considerably to Deku - especially a golden-haired boy in brilliant yellow robes. Deku doesn't mind his odd attire - after all, the men with stripes on their legs wore far stranger. Slowly, he begins to see the pet shop as a second home.

Finally, the seed sprouts.

Deku is overjoyed that morning, that calm Saturday morning. He picks up the pot and his journal and he rushes down to Count D's Pet Shop, where he knocks on the door and asks for the count. The door slowly opens, and Count D answers through a crack in the door, oddly disheveled but otherwise cheerful. Deku instantly knows something's wrong, however, because he can see a second face floating behind the Count in the gloom of the shop.

Deku never was one who was particularly careful. Placing the potted plant on the ground, out of the way, Deku manages to force his way into the store, where he finds that the Count is currently being held at gunpoint by some unknown man. Apparently, the man has been trying to rob the Count for the past three minutes, and Deku happened to arrive at the worst possible time.

The man pulls the trigger.

He only receives clicks.

Slowly, Count D opens his clenched fist, and every bullet from the gun falls out onto the ground. The man steps back in shock, and he bumps into a particularly broad-chested man. Izuku remembers him - Kiburi, a particularly proud, yet lazy, man who had three wives. Kiburi is joined by a woman with orange and black hair and the ram-horned man, and all three's eyes seem to gleam.

Count D calmly leads Deku out of the shop, and asks about the plant.  
  
Deku wants to ask about what's happening in the store, but the screams and tearing sounds are all needs to know. He feels slightly sick. Count D distracts Deku again, with the plant. Deku shows that the plant has sprouted, and Count D praises Deku for his efforts, and would Deku like a pet as well?

Deku looks warily to the store, where there is an eerie silence save for some wet ripping noises, but the door opens, and a magnificent golden deer- no, a dog?- but then what were the scales?

"I'm afraid little Chunjin has become dearly attached to you," Count D explains as he pulls a stick of incense out and lights it. Immediately, the odd chimeric creature's form shifts into the boy with golden hair, and Deku takes a step back. "And he won't take "no" for an answer. Such is the mindset of a qilin, I'm afraid."

**Author's Note:**

> Might continue this, might not.
> 
> The animals shown, in order:
> 
> Show Dogs  
> Fish  
> Totetsu  
> Dragon  
> Sparrows  
> Scorpion  
> Quetzal  
> Calico Cat  
> Lion  
> Tiger  
> Qilin


End file.
